Jean Paul Gaultier's Amy Winehouse Homage

Godfrey DeenyJanuary 25th, 2012 @ 12:36 AM - Paris

There's nothing a fashion designer loves more than a pop diva, and few are more obsessed by them than Jean Paul Gaultier, whose exhilarating spring 2012 haute couture collection was dedicated to Amy Winehouse.

Backed up by a delightful acapella quarter that ranged through a selection of the deceased singer's greatest hits, from "Rehab" to "Back to Black," the first model hit the catwalk with her tresses bundled up in Winehouse's trademark hairdo.

In a generous return to form for Gaultier, the collection was a joyful homage to the troubled London chanteuse and her quirky bohemian style. Winehouse had already been the inspiration for a Chanel cruise collection staged in London, but today's performance rifled through a lot more of the visual kicks of the tragic artist who died of alcohol poisoning last year.

Winehouse was famous for mixing motifs and eras, for her juxtaposition of unusual fabrics, which Gaultier did with true skill in this show, staged in his Paris headquarters on Wednesday, Jan. 25, the last day of the couture season.

The couturier completely wowed with see-through, embroidered redingotes, worn over lace, or some brilliant ivory faille jackets whose asymmetrical collars curved sculpturally around the neck. You could just imagine Winehouse ordering one on a shopping spree in Paris.

Then he ramped up the naughtiness with a lace bolero, through which shiny bras peeped; indeed several shirts came with bras over them.

The models' wigs color varied from red ginger to lime green to ash gray, but maintained the rock singer's signature bouffant; many girls on the runway smoked, which is technically illegal in France, but Winehouse was always a rule breaker, so who cares. Right?

Gaultier even re-interpreted the famous conical bra that Madonna wore on her Blond Ambition tour of 1990; for this spring, as a dress with huge fins on the hips.

A stone-clustered bustier over a diaphanous tulle skirt was one of many looks that won bursts of applause from the audience, before Gaultier took his customary bow - a clownish run down the catwalk amidst cheers for his skills, and thanks for his tweaking our collective memory and sense of loss with this witty recall of a great talent who left us far too early.